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BRUTON CHURCH 



BY 



LYON G. TYLER, M. A., 

PRESIDENT OF WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. 



[Reprinted from William and Mary Qua?terly.~\ 



Hicfymonb, Va.: 

Whittet & Shepperson, General Printers 
1895. 







— cr 



BRUTON CHURCH. 



Next after the College, the glory of Williamsburg is Bruton 
Church. "When, in 1632, Middle Plantation (subsequently Wil- 
liamsburg) was laid out and paled in, 1 a parish of the same name 
•was shortly created. 2 Of the early history of this parish very little 
is known. When counties were established two years later, the 
line of division between Charles River county, subsequently York, 
and James City county appears to have passed through the centre 
of Middle Plantation. 3 Charles River county, the parent potential 
of many new counties, stretched out indefinitely to the north and 
to the west. 

At Middle Plantation there was no danger from disease, for the 
surgeon of the Colony, Dr. John Pott, had given convincing evi- 
dence of its healthfulness by the purchase of a plantation called 
Harop, just on its borders, 4 and his judgment was to be confirmed 
in future years by the unanimous voice of the Legislature. 5 In 
this favored spot there were no mosquitoes; 6 the air was "serene 
and temperate," and crystal springs burst from the "dry and 
champaign" soil. 7 But the Indians inhabiting near were a real 
menace. The danger, in fact, of sudden death from this source 
made religion a constant factor in the lives of the early colonists; 
and the valor and the intrepidity of the brave commanders at Middle 
Plantation, Lieutenant Richard Popely 8 and Captain Robert Hig- 

»Hemng, L, 139, 199, 208. 2 York Eecords. Ubid. 

4 Hening, I., 208. 6 Herring, III., 419. 

6 Hugh Jones's Present State of Virginia. 

'Hening. III., 419. 

8 Popeley owned 700 acres at the Middle Plantation. (York Eecords.) In 
1627 he was given 1,500 pounds of tobacco by the Council, "he being a man 
that bothe heretofore and is still ready to do good service to the Colony. " He 
■was born in 1608, in the parish of Wolley, Yorkshire, England. (Ancient 
Records, and Sainsbury MSS.) 



4 Bruton Church. 

ginson, 1 did not diminish, the people's trust in a higher protee* 
tion. 

By 1654 the " forest " to the northwest had received so many 
immigrants, that at the session of the Legislature that year " the 
upper part of York county, from the West side of Skimeno Creek 
to the heads of Pamunky and Mattaponi rivers, and down to the 
head of the West side of Poropota? ke," was created 2 into a sepa- 
rate county, called New Kent ; and at the same session, that part 
of York county on the river, which lay adjoining, " from the head 
of the north side of Queen's Creek as high as the head of Skimeno 
Creek," was made 3 into a distinct parish, and was called Marston. 

In 1644 a parish in James City, between Archer's Hope Creek 
and Martin's Hundred, comprising Harop and Farlow's Neck (sub- 
sequently Kingsmill plantation), was created, 4 and called Harop 
parish; but in March, 1657-58, this parish was united with Mid- 
dle Plantation, and the two became known as Middletown parish. 

In the same year (1658) Major Joseph Croshaw, whose daughter 
Unity married Colonel John West, Lord Delaware's nephew, gave 
to the parish of Marston one acre of his plantation called " Poplar 
Neck," (afterwards "Bipon Hall,") near the "Indian Fields," for a 
church-yard, on which land there was already a church. 6 

There is a deed, 7 dated March 5, 1659, from Balph Simkins and 
Susannah, his wife, to Samuel Fenn (whose daughter Sarah mar- 
ried Thomas Claiborne, a son of the renowned William Claiborne), 
conveying 37 acres of woodland, "except two acres, part thereof, 
given formerly by the said Simkins to the use of the parishioners 
of Middletown Parish, and on which a church is now building." 
In 1674 the parish of Marston was joined to that of Middletown, 
and the united parishes became kuown as "Bruton Parish" 8 — a 

1 The tomb of his only child, Lucy Burwell, at Carter's Creek, Gloucester 
county, Virginia, speaks of Captain Higginson as of the " ancient family of 
Higginson, " and as "one of the first commanders to subdue the country of 
Virginia from the power of the heathen." In. 1644 he had charge at Middle 
Plantation. 

2 Hening, I, 388. z lbid.; York County Records. 4 Hening, I., 317. 

8 Ibid., 498. 

6 York Records. Joseph Croshaw and Robert Cobbs were vestrymen of 
Marston Parish in 1660, and Rev. Edward Foliott was the minister. 

7 York County Records. 

8 1 have not been able to find the order requiring the change, but in the 
York records "Bruton" takes the place of "Middletown" and of "Marston" 
during 1674. In some late accounts Bruton Church bas been called "Christ 
Church" and "St. David's," but the records show that the only name which 
it ever truly had was the name of the parish. See Perry's Hist. Coll., Virginia, 
208, 298-300, 411, 430; Meade, McCabe, York Records, etc. 



Bkuton Church. 5 

name ever since retained, and derived from the Ludwell family, or 
from Sir William Berkeley, the Governor, who were from Bruton, 
Somerset county, in England. 

The first entry in the old vestry-book, now lost, 1 bore date "April 
y e 18th, 1674," and from that time the distinction between Middle- 
town and Marston parishes ceased; and in the deeds plantations 
in Marston parish are described as in " Bruton." 

Of Bruton parish, Bev. Rowland Jones (1640-1688), son of Rev. 
Rowland Jones in Oxfordshire, was the first minister. He was a 
graduate of Oxford, and an ancestor of Martha Washington. 2 The 
two churchwardens in 1674 were Captain Philip Chesley 3 and Mr. 
William Aylett, both of York county; and the Honorable Daniel 
Parke " (Secretary of the Colony, and an ancestor of Martha Wash- 
ington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis), Mr. James Besouth, 
Mr. Robert Cobbs, and Mr. James Bray, were of the vestry ; Alex- 
ander Bonnyman was the first clerk of Bruton. In November, 
1677, the vestry determined 5 "not to repair either the upper or 
the lower churches in the parish," but that "a new church should 
be built with brick at the Middle Plantation." There were then, 
probably, three wooden structures for worship in the parish, cor- 
responding to Middle Plantation, Harop, and Marston parishes, 
all three of which now composed Bruton, which stretched in an 
irregular manner from York River to James River, and was about 
ten miles square. 6 We have evidence certainly of the existence of 
two such churches: Marston Church is constantly referred to in 
the York county records as being in the direction of the present 

1 In some way the vestry-book disappeared during the late war. Fortu- 
nately, Eev. J. C. McCabe had the use of it in 1856, and he published many 
extracts in The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register, Vol. VIII., 1855-56. 
[References to the sketch in The Church Review, etc., will be made in this 
paper as "McCabe." A mutilated register of the parish exists. The entries 
run: Births, 1739-1792; Deaths, 1660-1751. The early deaths, 1660-1674, 
being those of persons living in Marston parish, show that the register must 
have been originally the register of that parish. Mrs. 0. B. T. Coleman, of 
"Williamsburg, has the register. I had a copy made for the College library. 

2 Virginia "Historical Collections," XL, page 76. 

3 Of Welf ord, Gloucestershire, England. Will proved in York county, Vir- 
ginia, in 1674. His nephews, who were educated in England, left descendants 
in Virginia. 

4 See Virginia Historical Collections, XI. , page 76 ; also, Bishop Meade's Old 
Churches and Families of Virginia. 5 McCabe. 

6 Kev. James Blair describes the parish in 1724 as being ten miles square. — 
Perry's Historical Collections — Virginia. 



6 Bruton Chdech. 

Biglow's, "in the Indian fields near Queen's Creek"; and in De- 
cember, 1674, Thomas Claiborne and Sarah, his wife (who was Sa- 
rah Fenn), joined in a deed to convey the wife's inheritance in the 
old plantation of Balph Simkins at Middle Plantation, "except the 
two acres on w ch the Parish Church of Bruton now standeth, for- 
merly given by Balph Simkins unto the parishioners of Bruton." 

To the proposed brick building at Middle Plantation liberal 
contributions were made 1 by Bev. Bowland Jones, John Page, 
Gideon Macon, Martin Gardiner, Thomas Ludwell, Esq., and 
others. On 23d January, 1681, an agreement was signed by 
Capt. Francis Page to build 2 the brick church for " £150 and sixty 
pounds of good, sound, merchantable, sweet-scented tobacco, to be 
leveyed of each tytheable in the parish for three years together." 
The land on which the church was built, together with sixty feet 
of the same every way for a church yard, was a gift 3 forever from 
the " Honourable Coll. John Page." 

On November 29, 1683, the new church was at length completed, 
and on the 6th day of January, 1683-84, being the Epiphany, Mr. 
Jones preached a dedicatory sermon. Special pews were set apart 
for the Governor and Council and the families of Col John Page 
of Middle Plantation, and of Col. Philip Ludwell who had married 
the Lady Frances, Governor Berkeley's widow, and resided at 
Greenspring, seven miles distant. The fees were fixed — for burial 
in the chancel 1,000 pounds of tobacco or £5, payable to the min- 
ister; for burial in the church 500 pounds of tobacco, payable to the 
parish; for a funeral sermon £2, payable to the minister; for reg- 
istering christenings, and burials 3 pounds of tobacco each, pay- 
able to the clerk of the parish ; for digging a grave 10 pounds of 
tobacco, payable to the sexton. The miuister's salary was fixed at 
1,600 pounds of tobacco and cask annualhy. 4 Among the bene- 
factors of the church, besides those already mentioned, were Sir 
Edmund Andros, the Governor, who in 1694 gave to Bruton Parish 
a large silver server; 5 Mrs. Catharine Besouth, 6 who gave £10 by 

J McCabe. * Ibid. 3 McCabe. i Ibid. Perry. 

5 A server presented by Andros to James City Parish turned up in an out of 
the way place sometime ago, and is now at the Episcopal Seminary at Alexandria. 

6 Mrs. Besouth was the wife of vestryman James Besouth, and widow of 
John Huberd, the brother of Mathew Huberd. Her daughter, Elizabeth 
Huberd, married Capt. James Archer, an engineer in Sir Herbert Jeffreys' regi- 
ment. His daughter, Anne Archer, married Major William Barber, burgess, 
justice, etc. , and had Elizabeth, who married Leonard Claiborne, Capt. James 
Barber, etc. 



Bkdton Church. 7 

her will for the purchase of a piece of plate engraved -with her 
name, and Mrs. Alice Page, 1 who in 1698 gave " one gold pulpitt 
cloath and cushion of Best velvett." A church Bible was given by 
Capt. Mathews, 2 which in 1742 "being in danger of spoiling by 
laying in the chest, Mr. Thomas Cobbs agreed to take, promising 
to send for another when the same shall bee required." A font 
stone was imported in 1691, 3 and is doubtless the one now in the 
church. In 1724 Rev. James Blair reported 4 that the church was 
provided with " a great Bible, 2 common prayer Books, the Homi- 
lies, canons, pulpit Cloths, altar and altar piece, Font, Cushions, 
Surplice, Bell, &c," and that "there were 110 families in the 
parish." The church has at present the use of the following ser- 
vices of communion plate: 1st. A service of silver, consisting of a 
large chalice and a paten, originally presented to the church at 
Jamestown, each vessel bearing the motto, " Mixe not holy thinges 
with profane," and about the rim, on the bottom, Ex dono Eran- 
cisci Morrison, Armigeri. Anno Domi 1661." Francis Morri- 
son, Esq., was at this time acting Governor of the coloiy. The 
maker of this service, whose mark was " T. W." was also the maker 
of a celebrated cup owned by tae Blacksmiths' Company, London, 
1655, and subsequently purchased at a sale for the large sum of 
£378. 2d. A service of silver-gilt, consisting of a paten and a 

1 Will of Mrs. Alice Page, wife of Col. John Page, proved August 24, 1698. 

2 The following notes regarding the Mathews family may be of value : Gov. 
Samuel Mathews, who married the daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, lived in 
Warwick county, and died in 1660. — Hening. "John Mathews, son of Col. 
Samuel Mathews, deceased," Mrs. Anna Bernard guardian, etc., 1671. — Qen 
eral Court Records. "Robert Bullock, son of William Bullock, who was son 
of Hugh Bullock," sues Col. Peter Jenings, guardian to "orphans of Coll. 
Mathews, deceased," 1671. — Ibid. "William Cole, Esq., guardian of Mr. John 
Mathews," 1679. — York County Records. "William Cole, Esq., and Capt. 
John Mathews, trustees of Baldwin Mathews, orphan of Capt. Francis 
Mathews," etc., 1682. — Ibid. "John Mathews, Esq., of Warwick county, and 
Elizabeth, his wife, sole daughter and heiress of Michael Tavernor, of York 
county," 1684-5. — Ibid. "Baldwin, infant and only son of Capt. Francis 
Mathews, deceased," 1674-5. Baldwin Mathews, of York county, in his 68th 
year, found dead with his head resting on the table, etc. — Virginia Gazette, 
1st April. 1737. Mary, daughter of Baldwin Mathews, married Philip Smith, 
of Northumberland county, and had Baldwin Mathews Smith, eldest son, and 
Mary, who married Thomas Bnckner. — York County Records, 1751. Samuel 
Mathews' will, proved in Richmond county in 1718, mentions his sons John, 
Baldwin, and Francis, daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and kinsmen Dudley 
Digges and Baldwin Mathews. 

3 Calendar of State Papers, I., p. 35. 4 Perry. 



8 Beuton Chubch. 

double-handled cup with, cover beautifully chased and embellished 
"with applique leaves and bearing private arms, at present uniden- 
tified. The cup, resembling in shape and size a caudle or loving- 
cup, was made in 1686 by Peeter Harache, an eminent French 
goldsmith then resident in London. The paten, of less delicate 
workmanship, was not made until 1737, at which time the two 
vessels were doubtless presented to the church. A cut of this ser- 
vice appears in J. H. Buck's Old Plate (Gorham Manufacturing 
Company, New York, 1888). 3d. A silver service of three pieces, 
a large flagon, a large goblet-shaped chalice, and a paten, each 
piece bearing the royal arms, with motto, " Honi soit qui mal y 
pense," between the initials G. III. R. This service was made in 
1764 and 1766 by Thomas Heming. 

The vestry controlled the church, and out of their number were 
elected each year two persons called church-wardens, who saw to 
the enforcement of the church laws. These church wardens, who 
were assisted in their duties by an officer called a sidesman, looked 
after the poor children, who were taught reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, 1 and reported to the county courts the evil doers, who, 
contrary to Bishop Meade's suppositions, were promptly punished, 
as the county records show. 

In the course of the vestry itself regarding the election of min- 
isters, the independent character of the Virginians was remark- 
ably illustrated. Under the practice in England the minister held 
his living for life, but the vestry of Bruton would only elect Rev. 
Solomon Wheatley for a year at a time, in spite of the insistence of 
Governor Andros to the contrary. 2 Even Governor Spotswood ap- 
pears to have found them an obdurate and unmanageable set of 
men. 3 

1 The vestry had charge (often in conjunction with the justices) of the par- 
ish schools, of which there seems to have been four in 1724. — Perry. One of 
these was the "Mattey School," founded by Mrs. Mary Whaley in honor of 
her son, in 1706. Probably the other schools were indicated — 1. By the school- 
house of which I have found frequent mention in the York records as located 
on the north side of Queen's Creek, near Marston church ; 2. By the fifty acres 
and house given at Jamestown for a free-school (Meade I., 201) ; and 3. By the 
school of A. Curtis named on the map of Williamsburg. In 1726 Jonathan 
Druitt left his estate for a free-school, but the act of the Legislature in 1762 
permitted the vestry to use the proceeds for any charitable purpose. — York 
County Records and Hening's Statutes. 

2 McCabe. 

3 In the index to the cases pending in the General Court (Ludwell MSS. in 
Va. Hist. Society) there is a case of Quare impedit, brought in 1721 by ' ' Edmund 



Bkuton Church. 9 

The vestry, however, rested with asserting their own indepen- 
dence. They had no patience with the Quakers, who claimed ex- 
emption from their religious domination. The Quakers were per- 
secuted, imprisoned, and fined. And yet there is plenty of evidence 
that the people at large had no great antipathy to this class of peo- 
ple. From some of the very first citizens the Quakers received coun- 
tenance and protection. When in 1705 the formidable Quaker mis- 
sionary, Thomas Story, visited the homes of Edward Thomas and 
John and James Bates, " a wanton company " of both sexes from Wil- 
liamsburg and other adjacent places attended the Quaker meeting 
at Queen's Creek, but were actuated by no feeling other than that 
of a thoughtless " levity." And Governor Francis Nicholson him- 
self received Story when he called upon him "with a kindness be- 
yond expectation." 1 

Of course the establishment of the college at the Middle Plan- 
tation, " Old ffeilds," in 1693, and the removal thither of the capi- 
tal in 1699, had great effect upon the church. We notice in the 
records frequent mention of repairs, and it becomes evident that 
the ideas of the vestry had outgrown the limits of the modest 
church first erected. In 1710, the vestry, consisting of "Hen: 
Tyler, 2 Rich d Kendall, Rich d Bland, 3 ffred Jones, 4 Hugh Norvell, 8 
W m . Timson, 6 Amb 8 Cobbs, E. Jenings, 7 and David Bray," 8 com- 
plained in a petition to the Burgesses that the present church had 
grown " ruinous," and asked pecuniary aid to build a new church 
to accommodate the crowd of strangers brought together by the 
General Assembly, the courts, the councils, and other public 
agencies. As the petition received the active support of the Speaker 

Jenings, Esq., Henry Tyler, James Bray, Mathew Pierce, John Holloway, John 
Oustis, Michael Archer, and Bob*. Cobbs the younger, Henry Cary, Archibald 
Blair, Baldwin Mathews, Gent., the vestry of the Parish of Bruton, &c, vs. 
Alexander Spotswood, Esq., Lt. Governor and Commander-in-chief of the 
Colony and Dominion of Virginia and Ordinary for Collating to Benefices Ec- 
clesiastical within the said colony." 

1 Friends' Library. 

2 Great-great-grandfather of President John Tyler. 

3 Father of Richard Bland the antiquary. 

4 A representative of the family of Thomas ap Catesby Jones. 

B Grandfather of William Norvell, who represented James City county in 
the Convention of 1775. 

6 Son of Samuel Timson, formerly of London. 

7 Son of Sir Edmund Jenings of Eipon, in Yorkshire. 

8 Col. David Bray, of the Council. 



10 Beuton Church. 

of the House of Burgesses, John Holloway, and of the Governor, 
Alexander Spotswood, it could not well fail. The contractor was 
James Morris, 1 "carpenter and chief workman in the city of Wil- 
liamsburg, who came into Virginia with Coll. Ludwell." " In order 
to beat down the extravagant prices of workmen," the Governor 
and Edmund Jenings volunteered to deliver in place " the brick 
necessary in building the church," at 15 shillings per thousand, 
" provided some of y e vestry would undertake the other parts." The 
length of the new church was 75 feet, of which the Governor agreed 
to put up 22 feet at his own expense. Its width was made 28 feet. 
The church wall was 23 feet high. The General Assembly con- 
tributed two wings, 19 feet long by 22 feet wide, making the 
church almost an even cross. 

The church was finished about 1715. It was a new church, and 
on November 16, 1716, an order was made by the vestry that " the 
church-wardens dispose of all the material belonging to the old 
church, except the brick." If the old brick had been used in con- 
structing the new church, this exception would have been super- 
fluous; besides Spotswood had agreed to furnish all the brick 
"necessary in building the church." It was in fact almost as cheap 
to use new brick as the old, cemented in almost a solid mass by 
strong shell lime. 

In 1716 John Custis obtained leave to place upon the north 
wall of the church, where it still is, the marble slab to the memory 
of the grandfather of his wife, 2 the Hon. Dan Parke, Secretary of 
State, which slab was in the old church. And when, in 1720, Dr. 
William Cocke, 3 who was also Secretary of State, died, a tablet was 
placed opposite on the south wall to his memory. 

Under the orders of the vestry the men sat on the north side of\ 
the church and the women on the south. The youth of the college 
were given the gallery " from the pillar on the south side of the 
isle of the church to the north side of the church," and in 1721 a 
gallery for the parish boys was ordered to be built on the south 
side of the church adjoining the gallery of the students in the west 
end. In 1762 Benjamin Waller and others were permitted to erect 

1 James Morris, his grandson, was clerk of the Parish of St. Peter's in New 
Kent. See register of that parish for account of the family (1776). 

2 Custis married Frances, dau. of Daniel Parke, the younger, governor of 
the Leeward Islands, &o. 

3 Dr. Cocke was from Suffolk Co. , England, and married Elizabeth, the 
Sister of Mark Catesby, the naturalist. 



Bkuton Chubch. 11 

a gallery on the north side for their families. The pulpit was at 
the south east corner, and was reached by a flight of winding 
stairs. The chancel was on the east end. The pews were rectan- 
gular, and the pew of the Governor was near the pulpit, and had 
a canopy over it. Whitewashed walls, oil painted mahogany seats, 
and stone-flagged aisles, were features of Bruton, in common with 
other old churches of the period. 

The present brick wall enclosing the graveyard was built by 
Samuel Spurr, of Williamsburg, in 1752, and cost £320. It will 
be remembered that John Page gave " 60 feet of land every way" 
for the church. But the act providing for laying out Williams- 
burg provided also for condemning land for the church, and the 
map of tbe town in the college library shows that the churchyard 
was so enlarged as to take in two acres on Duke of Gloucester 
street. Around three-fourths of this the brick wall was built, and 
its front is, on measurement, 330 feet. The other portion unen- 
closed was sold not many years ago to private land owners. 

In 1744 the vestry had suggested to the General Assembly the 
purchase of an organ as something " both ornamental and use- 
ful." 1 After eight years' delay, John Blair, Philip Ludwell, Armi- 
stead Burwell, James Power, and Benjamin Powell were appoint- 
ed by the Assembly a committee to provide material for enlarging 
the church, and for purchasing and setting up an organ in the 
loft, to cost £200. 2 New repairs and a new steeple 3 were ordered 
by the vestry in 1769, and it seems that by virtue of these orders 
the church assumed its present proportions of 100 feet long and 
28 feet wide, the wings being reduced from 19 feet in leDgth to 
14| feet. In 1755, Peter Pelham, son of the early New England 
artist of the same name, was elected organist. He was clerk of a 
committee of the House of Burgesses, also; and his son, Colonel 
Charles Pelham, was an officer in the Revolution. Major John 
Pelham, of the Confederate army, was a descendant. This organ 
is believed to have been the first church organ in the United 
States, just as the theatre in Williamsburg, erected in 1716, was 
the first theatre, and the asylum for the insane, erected in 1769, 
was the first asylum. 

The btll that swings from the steeple of the church, and which 
has rung out the years for more than a century and a quarter, has 
engraved upon it: " The gift of James Tarpley 4 to Bruton Parish, 

1 McCabe. 2 Hening. 3 The present steeple is about 100 feet high. 

4 James Tarpley was a rich merchant of Williamsburg, and was originally 
from Richmond county. 



12 Bkuton Chuech. 

1761." There was a still older bell, for the vestry, in 1769, en- 
tered an order for their contractor, Benjamin Powell, to have the 
"Old Bell and the materials of the old steeple." The ancient 
clock still looks down from the steeple, but the hands are station- 
ary, and the face has no figures upon it. 

Inside the church the spirit of modern innovation has been at 
work. In 1837 the high pews and the stone-paved aisles, the pul- 
pit and the chancel, remained unchanged. Before 1838 the whole 
had passed away. A wall was built across the western end, mak- 
ing the present Sunday-school and lecture-room. Against this di- 
viding wall the pulpit, reading desk, and communion-table were 
placed, the chancel-rail enclosing them all. The galleries were 
removed — there were five in 1838. The organ was removed to a 
loft in the east end opposite the present pulpit. 1 This is the pre- 
sent appearance of the church, except for the addition of some tab- 
lets 2 on the walls, and a beautiful memorial window recently erect- 
ed by some of the descendants of Colonel John Page. Despite 
the alterations, which we must regret, the church presents a very 
beautiful interior. 

During the war between the States, Bruton parish church, to- 
gether with the churches of all other denominations in Williams- 
burg, was used as a hospital. 3 

Although the outside has preserved its ancient appearance — its 
cruciform, and glaze i bricks, its steeple, clock, and bell — it needs 
attention to prevent the inroads of time. A close examination 

1 MS. of Mrs. Letitia Tyler Semple. 

2 These tablets are in memory of, (1), "William H. Wilmer, President of 
William and Mary College; (5), The Confederate dead; (3), The Tyler family. 

3 For a long time the college exercises were held in the church. Colonel 
B. S. Ewell used to tell with much glee, that when John Tyler, at the age of 
seventeen years, made his graduating address on "Female Education," he 
spoke in the old church, under the direction of Bishop James Madison, then 
President of the College. The Bishop, who had read the manuscript, object- 
ed to certain high-strung sentences and "curls" in the speech, and told the 
future President of the United States that he would take his position at th© 
end of the church, where he might suggest to him by signs what to leave out. 
The young speaker began his address, but was too strongly wedded to his 
"imrls" to give them up, even at the suggestion of the venerable president; 
and it was in vain that the latter wildly gesticulated with his hands and his 
cane Tyler continued his remarks in his own way. The ovation which he re- 
ceived from the audience doubtless encouraged Madison in declaring that, de- 
spite too ardent an expression, "it was the finest speech ever delivered at the 
College by a student within his recollection." 



Bkuton Church. 13 

shows that ugly seams are beginning to run down the sides. The 
ivy that clings to the walls cannot hide the threatening cracks. 
These signs of decay must appeal strongly to the sympathies of 
persons of all denominations, for the history of the church belongs 
to the State, which it once represented. For generations, states- 
men, warriors, knights, councillors, senators, governors, and di- 
vines worshipped there. Fashion and beauty, wit and talent, piety 
and virtue, glorified its sacred interior. In this church and church- 
yard sleep 1 many who were well known in their day: two govern- 
ors, Nott and Fauquier; two councillors, John Page and David 
Bray; three secretaries of state, Daniel Parke, Dr. William Cucke, 
and Edmund Jenings; the great lawyer and Virginia's first law 
reporter, Edward Barradall; and scores of others — merchants, 
physicians, etc. The old church honored our past; the present 
should honor it. Its repair and preservation were once a State 
matter, and are beyond the ability of a small town. No worthier 
object could receive the attention of people of all religious views 
than the preservation of this historic edifice. It is distinctively 
Virginian. 

List of the Ministers of Bkuton Paeish. 
Kowland Jones, 1674-1688; Samuel Eburne, 16-8-1697; Cope 
Doyley, 1697-1702 ; Solomon Wheatley, 1702-1710; James Blair, 
1710-1743; Thomas Dawson, 1743-1759; William Yates, 1759- 
1764; James Horrocks, 1764-1771; John Camm, 1771-1773; John 
Bracken, 1773-1818; R. Keith, D. D., 1822-1826; William H. 
Wilmer, 1826-l>-27; Adam Empie, 1828-1836; William Hodges, 
D. D., 1837-1848 ; Henry M. Denison, 1848-1852 ; George Wilmer, 
D. D., 1856; Thomas M. Ambler, 1860-1873; George Wilmer, D. D. 
(2d pastorate), 1872-1876 ; Jacquelin Meredith, 1876-1877 ; Henry 
Wall, S. T. D., 1877-1880 ; Alexander Over by, 1880-1885 ; F. G. 
Burch, 1885-1887 ; Lyman B. Wharton, D. D., 1888; T. C. Page, 
1889-1893 ; W. T. Roberts, 1894-. 

Paetial List of the Vestry of Bkuton Parish. 

[The dates represent their first appearance in the records.] 

1674. — Hon. Daniel Parke, Hon. John Page, James Besouth, 

Robert Cobbs, James Bray, Capt. Philip Chesley, William Aylett. 

1679— George Poindexter, George Martin. 1682— Major Otho 

Thorpe, Capt. Francis Page. 1684 — Hon. Philip Ludwell, Hon. 

1 The larger proportion of the dead are without tombstones. For inscrip- 
tions on the stones remaining, see Virginia Historical Collections, Vol. XI. ; 
and QuAKTEELX, Vol. II., page 78. 



14 Beuton Church. 

Thomas Beale. 1686— Martin Gardner. 1694— Hon. Edmund 
Jenings, John Dormar, William Pinketbman, Hugh Norvell, Henry 
Tyler, John Kendall, Robert Crawley, Baldwin Mathews. 1697 — 
John Owens, Philip, Ludwell, Jr., Timothy Pinkethrnan. 1704 — 
William Hansford, Joseph White, William Timson. 1705 — 
Frederick Jones, John Page. 1710— Richard Kendall, Ambrose- 
Cobbs, Richard Bland, David Bray. 1721 — Mathew Pierce, John 
Holloway, John Custis, Michael Archer, Robert Cobbs, Jr., Henry 
Cary, Dr. Archibald Blair. 1725— Lewis Burwell. 1727— Sir 
John Randolph. 1744 — James Wray, Hon. John Blair, Sr., John 
Harmer, Benjamin Waller. 1747— Hon. Peyton Randolph. 1750 — 
John Holt. 1754— Robert Carter Nicholas. 1761— Frederick 
Bryan. 1769 — Thomas Everard, John Pierce, William Eaton,. 
George Wythe, John Prentis, William Graves. 

Thy following names are taken from Meade's Old Churches, as 
occurring in the old vestry book which ended in 1769: Hon. 
Thomas Ludwell, Hon. Thomas Ballard, James Vauls, William 
Corker, Thomas Whaley, Capt. Thomas Williams, Daniel Wyld, 
Thomas Taylor, Christopher Pearson, Gideon Macon, Robert 
Spring, Abraham Vincler, Samuel Timson, Thomas Pettus, Coh 
Thomas Ballard, Ralph Graves, Capt. James Archer, George Nor- 
vell, Edward Jones, Capt. Thomas Thorpe, Daniel Park, Jr., James 
Whaley, James Bray, James Hubard, Nathaniel Crawley, John 
Clayton, David Bray, Jr., Thomas Jones, Samuel Turner, George 
Nicholas, William Robertson, Thomas Cobbs, Ralph Graves, Ed- 
ward Barradall, James Barber, Daniel Needier, James Bray. Jr-, 
Edward Barradall, Jr., Henry Tyler, Jr., Mai hew Pierce, William 
Parks, William Prentis, William Timson, Jr., Armistead Burwell, 
John Palmer, Pinkethrnan Eaton, Nathaniel Shields, John Power. 



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